Mid-day Open Thread

by: Chris Bowers

Tue Nov 04, 2008 at 12:15


I voted at about 8:15 this morning. Took twenty minutes or so. Given reports from my friends, the lines were huge everywhere in Philadelphia early in the morning, but tapered off after 9 a.m. Lots of hard-core voters out early. Lots.

The best part about my voting experience was when the judge of elections claimed a young woman in line ahead of me wasn't on the rolls, and was about to send her to another division. I quickly pulled out my street list, confirmed she was a registered voter in the division, and told the judge to look again (as a certified poll watcher, I can do this). The judge looked again and found her. Turns out the page the voter was on was just stuck. So, I helped someone else--a registered Democrat--vote, too. Cool.

Obama people are all over the neighborhood, pulling people out to vote. I don't remember any Election Day canvassing in the area ever before.

This is an open thread. How was your voting and / or activist experience?

Chris Bowers :: Mid-day Open Thread

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Mid-day Open Thread | 35 comments
I had to wait (4.00 / 2)
over an hour and a half in the reliably democratic Boston area. I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes before. Hopefully this is a good sign for increased turnout nationwide.
I'm going to the polls now. (0.00 / 0)
will report back on lunchtime lines.
about half my precinct has already voted (0.00 / 0)
so that's nice.  I expect the remainder tonight.

Of course, we got real close to 100% in 2004.

[ Parent ]
Turns out the page the voter was on was just stuck (0.00 / 0)
who are these incompetent people?

Michael Bloomberg, prince of corporate welfare
human beings (4.00 / 2)
Relax.
[ Parent ]
LAZY human beings! (4.00 / 1)
Sending a voter away just because she can't be found on the list at first glance? Scandalous! Don't those people take the job they do for serious?
[ Parent ]
Don't be an asshole (4.00 / 2)
It was a mistake. Got corrected. You weren't there.
[ Parent ]
Well, the way you reported it... (0.00 / 0)
sure made it sound like that judge didn't really went to great lengths to help that woman. Excuse me pls for being under the certainly totally wrong impression that stuck pages are something that a careful official would notice...
[ Parent ]
you're kidding right? (4.00 / 1)
oh, oops - sorry just wasted three hours of your time and likely prevented you from voting all because I'm a total idiot and couldn't figure out that two pieces of paper were a little stuck together. but hey, relax, its no biggy right?

idiots.

Michael Bloomberg, prince of corporate welfare

[ Parent ]
hyde park (0.00 / 0)
polling places were pretty clear at 8.30 am this morning and I could walk right in -- I think we may have an overabundance of polls here, since the rolls for my polling place were not that long. On the other hand, the machine registered eighty eight voters ahead of me, so there may have been larger crowds earlier in the day.
My brother (4.00 / 2)
just called me from St. Louis.  He & his wife waited 2 1/2 hours to vote.  They were going to get coffee to celebrate.

If you want to see the funniest yard sign picture of the election and read his "Landlord v. Tenant" blog entry concerning the election - check it out:

http://pomranka.net/blog/2008/...

2 1/2 hours??? President Obama will have a lot of work to do... (0.00 / 0)
to fix this banana republic. This is ridiculous.
[ Parent ]
2 hours in Atlanta (4.00 / 3)
But we voted ;-)
[ Parent ]
Kudos! (4.00 / 1)
I easily become impatient, especially when I have to wait in a line. Two hours would have been the horror for me. Well, of course you know what is at stake, but still, respect for not giving up!

Damn, I'm really worried that many will have to quit without voting because of work schedules, kids at home and so. This really has to change for the next elections!

[ Parent ]
We were there right when it opened (actually 15 minutes after) (0.00 / 0)
I think lines have lessened.  Anyhow, we brought books.
[ Parent ]
Heavy in South Minneapolis (4.00 / 2)
I live about 8 blocks south of the photo on the earlier voting lines thread. Heavy. I got there at 7:15, voted at 8:45, and the line was still wrapped around the block when I left at 9.

Franken was just outside my office shaking hands here at the University of Minnesota. He's being trailed by the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The office is abuzz with coworkers who grabbed pictures with him.

...aaaand they just walked right by my window.

Silver Spring (0.00 / 0)
I had to wait about an hour, around 10 am.  Much longer than before.  Here's a question if anyone wants to venture a guess.  What percentage of overall popular vote would Obama have to take to pull GA (no run off) and KY Senate seats with him?  I'm thinking a 12 point win would do it, if turnout is high.  
laptops here (0.00 / 0)
so no chance of that happening

I think I might have accidentally registered as a republican while voting due to this states laws.

The liberal wiki
Send an email to terra@liberalwiki.com

heh. (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
poorly organized in SF Mission District (4.00 / 1)
I voted for the first time in SF. Precinct 3903 (Betheny Center Poll).

I arrived at 7:45 not expecting much of a line. It took me about an hour with the line and the ridiculously gigantic ballot this year.

I think it was a combination of a high turnout area plus an unfortunately poorly organized (maybe understaffed?) polling location. There was only one poll worker checking in voters and one poll worker handing out the four separate ballots (yes....four). And we still had optical scan machines.

My previous polling location (suburban/rural) was better staffed and organized.  They always had at least 4 people checking in voters and distributing ballots, two teams of two handling half of the alphabet.

This worked much better. I would hate to see how long it would take to vote if we were using touchscreens or some other digital voting machine.  

Huge GOTV here in western WI (4.00 / 2)
It's like a block party is waiting to break out.  It's coordinated too - equal representation of Obama and local candidates (WI could swing D in a big way and we've got two R reps).  The local D's need it more right now.

I've never seen this kind of energy.

War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength; McCain/Palin 2008

Come on Philly! City of Brotherly Love, bring us home! (0.00 / 0)
I voted two weeks ago at my kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee. Loved it! 90% ballot return, registered voters, expected in my county in Oregon.
Experience (0.00 / 0)
I voted about the same time. I didn't have to wait.

I you want health care, work hard. If you want universal health care, vote for liberals.
Waited 90 minutes in Manhattan(!) (4.00 / 2)
To compare - I voted the same time in 2004 and waited 5 minutes.
North Philly lines were short...did they refuse to pay the street money? (0.00 / 0)
I'm going to be pissed if we get only a decent 400k+ advantage out of philly because Obama couldn't spare some nickels to get out the steet workers that expect it from rendell/casey

the primary was practically empty and every poll worker in philly told me it was nothing compared to streets election when the street workers got their money

someone give me some info

ok. regardless of whether there is an issue with street money not being (0.00 / 0)
paid, and with the caveat that i know how important GOTV efforts are.... HELLO??? if there is low turnout in philly for this election, when philly is CLEARLY one of the most important cities in the country, i'm gonna be pissed at my previous home city.  it is just pitiful that people wouldn't turn out on their own...  

course, i've heard lots of reports saying that the lines were big, especially early in the morning... so i'll reserve judgment until later.  

[ Parent ]
Relax (0.00 / 0)
Just in from the Philly News

"Message in North Philly: Be Patient, Stay in Line"

"With light rain falling on the Pennrose playground at 12th and Susquehanna in North Philly, it is nevertheless a festive atmosphere. The Obama campaign is here in force, handing out water, donuts, soft pretzels, snacks and umbrellas.

The line to vote is so long they've broken it up so more people can stand under the eaves of the playground building."

It looks to be 2-3 hours at this location right now.

[ Parent ]
I can only drop in for a moment... (4.00 / 2)
I'm grabbing a bite and then back to being a pollwatcher in Chicago.

The north side polling station I opened for this morning had lines at 6am.  The line was two hours long at about 9am, a bit better by 10 or 10:30.  I've never seen anything like it here, where the Democrat winning is always a foregone conclusion.  Our lines weren't even the worst -- the polling station down the street had a line wrapped around the building.

Our ward is predicted to go something like 90% for Barack Obama.  W00t!

And after all that time in line, people were still coming out beaming and giddy.  If it's like that here, I can't even imagine the intensity in battleground states.

fairburn, ga (0.00 / 0)
Just voted in Fairburn Georgia(a bit south of Atlanta) and there was no line.
voter testimonies and on the ground news (0.00 / 0)
Community Values Vote

www.communitychange.org/vote

has some great stories from on the ground during election day. the blog is covering everything from the grassroots perspective. its not your typical stodgy old pundits commenting on the numbers - its people like you, across the country, talking about how they voted, why they voted and any problems they encountered.

a couple stories of note:

Voter Suppression in Iowa

Police in Iowa Ordered to Wear Riot Gear

A New Immigrant Votes in New Mexico

94-Year Old Woman Tells her Voter Story

Its a great source for on the ground reports, be sure to check it out.

www.communitychange.org/vote

Outside Cleveland Ohio (4.00 / 2)
I voted from a suburb 30 minutes outside Cleveland. I go every election at 6:30AM. What is usually a 10 minutes wait was 40 minutes. It was the first time the line went outside the building.  
tick tock.... (4.00 / 2)
I do not know about the rest of you guys but this waiting is killing me.  Can someone press the FF>> button for about the next 8 hours already!!! I need to know final results.
I'm baking pies to bring into my office tomorrow. (0.00 / 0)
Most of the officers are Republicans, most of the enlisted are Democrats.  So I told them the winners can celebrate with pie.  The losers can console themselves with pie.
[ Parent ]
nice! (0.00 / 0)
i hope one is a blueberry pie and the others are some red pie....not that you will need those.
[ Parent ]
Just got a GOTV voicemail with the wrong voting location (0.00 / 0)
Obama folks are using an old list, from before I moved.  Ruh-roh!
Mid-day Open Thread | 35 comments
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